


Tendentious - Love Hurts

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1273]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Episode: s03e24 Hiatus Part II, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 17:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19114180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: The explosion that causes Gibbs to lose his memory before his hiatus to Mexico also has some lasting effects on Tony.





	Tendentious - Love Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 10/25/2002 for the word [tendentious](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/10/25/tendentious).
> 
> tendentious[ ten-den-shuh s ]  
> adjective  
> having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose:  
> a tendentious novel.
> 
> This is for prompt #3 of the November 2018 Five Prompts Challenge located [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/155743.html).

Tony had always had a tendentious leaning towards Gibbs. Ever since Baltimore, he’d become rather biased towards Gibbs. Most people thought of Tony as Gibbs’ loyal Saint Bernard.

Tony couldn’t say he minded. It was more than that, of course, but Tony had convinced himself that that was all he could have. After Wendy, commitment wasn’t in his vocabulary.

He had feelings for Gibbs. They were friends. That was it, at least in Tony’s head. 

Or well it was until just before Gibbs left for Mexico. Watching the ship shake with an explosion and knowing Gibbs was in the middle of it was heart wrenching. Gibbs had been taken to the hospital, but Tony couldn’t go with him.

He had to lead the team when all he wanted to do was be with Gibbs. That was the moment Tony knew he loved Gibbs, if only he could have told him. You would think with Gibbs in the hospital that it would be easy to sneak in and confess his feelings, but no Gibbs always had someone else visiting him no matter how late or early Tony showed up.

Frequently, it seemed to be Director Sheppard, but he couldn’t exactly ask the Director to step out so that he could confess his feelings to Gibbs. After all, any report he gave to Gibbs the Director would eventually receive, so he had no excuse to get rid of her. It only grew more frustrating when Gibbs finally awoke and everyone realized that he was suffering memory loss.

It hurt, a lot, when Gibbs called him McGee. He’d just realized that he loved Gibbs and it felt disturbingly like a rejection even though Tony told himself that Gibbs didn’t know his feelings and thus couldn’t be rejecting him. Arriving at Gibbs’ house, right after Gibbs left for Mexico only made it worse. 

No one could fault his leading of the team. They solved the cases and he made sure the i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed, but inside he was dying. He loved Gibbs.

There was no denying that. Unfortunately, it was impossible to tell him. He wasn’t even in the same country anymore.

Tony knew Gibbs would be back. He tried to bury his feelings and just deal with the day to day stuff, but it was impossible to keep the hurt from surfacing especially when no one was backing him up on the team. His timing had always sucked, but this had to be by far the worst timing he’d ever had.

Even when Wendy had broken it off on the night before their wedding it hadn’t hurt this much. He promised himself that he would tell Gibbs he loved him as soon as Gibbs returned, but when Gibbs finally came back he was a completely different person. Tony didn’t even know this Gibbs.

He felt completely at sea. He’d thought everything would be ok once Gibbs returned, but somehow it was even worse. Having his belongings dumped on his desk without even a word of thanks or discussion about what Tony had done for the team while Gibbs was gone had been devastating. 

He couldn’t tell Gibbs about his feelings now. It was impossible. It would hurt too much. 

He had a hard enough time putting one foot in front of the other and going to work every day. Anything more than that was simply too much to ask. He could only hope that he would get over Gibbs some day and it would stop hurting.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has 1 story already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least 1 story before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> I do not currently have a discord dedicated to my stories. If anyone would be interested in joining a group chat server that is focused on my stories please comment below. Also, if you would like such a thing what kind of things would you like to know about? Please share those with me.
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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